Reader Interactions

Comments

Chuck: Just as you accuse Borrell Associates of bias for its concentration on online advertising, I suppose it also raises an eyebrow when an individual who makes his living from companies using direct mail so vehemently defends the industry. Wouldn’t it serve the industry better if you were advising them on how to prepare for the future in the event — as unlikely as it seems in your mind — these predictions come true?

We are quite accustomed to potshots from messenger-shooters — even in the online industry, which as you accurately point out we cover so deeply. You might find it interesting to know that two-thirds of our clients are legacy media companies, not “online” companies. You might find it even more shocking to know that last year we forecast the decline of banner advertising, and last month we filed a report on the extremely high churn rates for search advertising. I hardly think you can accuse a researcher of bias given that record.

Direct mail, like all other legacy media, WILL decline as a result of the shift to digital. I am certain of it. It will be a likely be a steep decline, on the order of 38% over the next five years, and it will cause a corresponding shift to other media, e-mail included. It won’t die — just as radio didn’t die as everyone predicted when television took hold in the 1950s.

I don’t think vehement defense serves the direct-response industry well. An intelligent discourse on the research — and more importantly, how direct marketers might prepare themselves if these predictions indeed come true — would be a much better use of time.

As one who works with non-profits regarding overall campaign strategies, we are now encouraging non-profits to utilize BOTH direct mail and online options. We do this for several reasons, not the least of which is the competitive nature of charitable giving today. But the primary reason to utilize both is the need for a charitable organization to go to its donors where they are. Online giving just doesn’t seem to be catching on YET, like we saw the Obama campaign champion last year, but we anticipate that in a paradigm shift that we are seeming today, online giving as a important option will not vanish. Nor will direct mail . . . even though costs rise and many people are a bit cynical about being bombaraded with more paper.

Chuck’s blog post contains a lot of good information that is certainly constructive. However, I want to correct one impression that he leaves with his readers, perhaps unintentionally.

The post implies that Care2 (my employer, which publishes the Frogloop.com blog) must totally swallow the conclusions of the Borrell Associates study about an alleged 40 percent decline in direct mail fundraising over the next few years. Actually, there was a lot about the Borrell conclusions that we at Care2 have trouble believing, and that’s why we took great pains not to just “breathlessly” (to use Chuck’s phrase) report these conclusions to Frogloop’s readers, without providing opposing viewpoints and scrutiny.

First, we wrote a headline in the form of a question (“Is Direct Mail Really Headed for the Exit?”), to signal some overall skepticism about Borrell’s main assertion. Next, our chief blogger Allyson Kapin, who wrote the Frogloop piece, made sure to include interviews with two top nonprofit fundraising experts — from Defenders of Wildlife and NARAL — both of whom completely disagreed with the Borrell conclusions.

Next, less than 24 hours after Allyson had published her Frogloop piece, we were contacted by fundraising legend Mal Warwick, who asked if we would be willing to post on Frogloop his forceful (“Hogwash”) rebuttal to the Borrell study. We not only said yes, we posted Mal’s piece immediately on Frogloop — which I might add was well before Mal’s similar piece was published on the Chronicle of Philanthropy website.

The bottom line is that Frogloop’s readers were well served by our coverage of the Borrell study, because we provided a lot of context and opposing viewpoints both for and against the study’s conclusions.

For the record: Care2’s work to help hundreds of leading nonprofits over the years indicates to us that the most successful organizations today are the ones pursuing integrated multi-channel strategies that include tried and true direct mail AND robust online fundraising. We recognize the challenging outlook for Direct Mail in the future, but we also think rumors of its (imminent) death are greatly exaggerated.

Primary Sidebar

Join The Conversation

What's the best way to follow important issues affecting the Jewish philanthropic world?
Our Daily Update keeps you on top of the latest news, trends and opinions shaping the landscape, providing an invaluable source for inspiration and learning.